Fl farmer to Tennessee farmer- location help (Knoxville, Jackson: real estate, houses)

[FarmerBlue14]

Hello fellow Farmers and Homesteaders,

My husband and myself along with our two kids, currently live in central Florida. Our family farm has been there for over 100 years. Sadly, we are at a point where city development is pushing us out of the neighborhood. Prices are getting so bad and importing costs are not sustainable. We would be considered a large homestead or a small dairy, that also includes chickens and bees. We also raise some cattle for meat and goats for fun. We have visited many places in the United States like the Appalachian Mountains region, southeast region, pacific northwest and have found that out of all these areas we really like the TN neck of the woods.

Here are the areas in TN that we have been to so far.

1. Nashville- Was fun but a bit too much traffic noise.
2. Woodbury- McMinnville (HWY 70S)- Is cute and loved the crafty/quilting/everyone knows your name feel. We saw a lot of farm store/ agricultural businesses. Rolling hills with cattle and farms all off the highway. The town of McMinnville was great, we stopped, had lunch and had a great feel.
3. Cookeville- Seemed like more of a retirement place, still might be a little too big to live in/around.

We are headed more east in the next few days towards the Knoxville, Jonesborough/Johnson city area.
We are looking for any information to help guide us in picking a perfect area for our new adventure but would allow us to continue our farming lifestyle and business. Thank you for helping us narrow down the field.
- House price around $0-$500k with house, barn and 5-10 acres, (but really looking for 30 acres, and will pay up to 800K) hopefully some source of water, a view that doesn't include other houses, and plenty of gardening space (we are serious growers of fruits, veggies, and flowers). Barn for horses, sheep, goats. Workshop, my husband plans on taking a trade school for welding and will probably get into that on the side. Fencing on as much as the property would be great.
For our kids we are looking to raise them in the outdoor and agricultural community, so an area that has horse trails, rodeos, 4H fairs, hiking and other outdoor stuff for family is great too.
Kids school: We are open to homeschooling if the public school is lacking in the area. Our kids have experienced Waldorf schooling and love it, but the closest school we found was in Nashville. We want our kids to grow up with a strong sense of community.
We are considering moving to sheep or goat farmers. Hay producing for our own animals with the opportunity to sell excess is also on our minds. Flat land / rolling hills would be great, with some forest.
- Near to a small town that attracts an eclectic and diverse mix of folks of all ages, touristy is ok maybe like an art and crafty kind of tourism so we would be able to sell our wood and crafts, and has a vibrant local community of (organic) farmers, musicians, artists, and just down to earth folk who feel more inclusive than divisive, a few good restaurants (not chains), coffee shop, fun bar or two, farmer's market, and a great grocery store that has lots of organic options. Alternative health options would be great too (acupuncture, naturopaths, etc.)
- No Walmart, MacDonalds, or big box stores is a big plus!
- Prefer somewhere that doesn't get too terribly hot in the summer, but the sun shines good. somewhere there is all the seasons.
- Good air quality (allergies fine, but def. avoiding pollution).
I know we covered a range of topics and considerations but if something jumps to mind or if I can answer any questions to help narrow it down, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!

[Normashirley]

I don’t get involved in relocation threads too much these days because it seems everybody and his brother wants to come to Tennessee but they forget to leave their city and suburban ways behind them.

That said YOU might want to look into both Bedford County and Coffee County. Both are generally Ag counties and overall safe places to live. Both counties do have a Walmart but both counties are also part of the Vanderbilt Hospital system and have helipads for the Vandy helicopter; which my husband got a ride on, in 2012 but he is fine now

Coffee county is home to Arnold AFB. Both counties have small private airports and depending on location, anywhere from 65 minutes to 90 minutes from Nashville International Airport.

I live on a 1-1/2 lane farm road and we all have county water. Not saying everyone enjoys that but it is not uncommon. We look like we are far removed from civilization yet we are only 13 miles from town in both counties.

I will say even real estate in our Ag counties has shot thru the roof. You will need to be careful of location if you run across a really swinging deal on property - bare or developed. If the price is way too good to be true, there’s a reason

Bedford County only has one place with public horse trails - or did have. I haven’t been there in years,so they may not be open anymore. Trails right from the farm might be better found somewhere in Coffee County

Humidity - no escaping that, lol. I run barrel fans for my horses during the summer. They have free access to the barn and more often than not, mid-afternoon finds them in the barn, in front of their fans, munching hay. Still, it may not be as bad as Florida.

This is a great weather website to monitor that sort of thing, anywhere in the U.S.

https://www.willyweather.com/tn/bedf...l-airport.html


Good luck on your search - I hope you find your 30 acres

[FarmerBlue14]

Thank you so much for your time and sharing information with us ! Thank you thank you

[JMT]

Originally Posted by FarmerBlue14

3. Cookeville- Seemed like more of a retirement place, still might be a little too big to live in/around.

Not sure why you thought Cookeville was more of a retirement place. It's a college town with one of the youngest populations in the state, and it's also a very family friendly place with things like excellent schools, a children's discovery center, children's library, and an award winning children's theater. Being a college town, there's also a very eclectic mix of people in the area from literally all over the world. And Cookeville's art scene is very impressive for a town its size with all kinds of art festivals and such during the year. There are 74 artists and galleries in the local artists guild. There are many art galleries and studios in town and outside of town, including the Appalachian Center for Craft which itself showcases the art of 150 different artists in its gallery and offers classes and workshops with its resident artists on the shores of Center Hill Lake.

But if you're looking for someplace without the big box stores, then yes I can see why you'd avoid Cookeville proper.

However, I highly recommend you check out areas north of Cookeville. You can easily find 30 beautiful acres in your price range, it's remote, and, unlike most remote areas in Tennessee, the countryside around Cookeville, including the most remote areas, has lightning fast 10 gig fiber optic internet. To put that in perspective, with 10 gig internet you can stream 1,700 movies simultaneously. Most rural areas in Tennessee don't have anything like that. If you're working from home, you'll appreciate having fast and reliable internet.

Check out Overton, Jackson, and Clay counties. They're beautiful, inexpensive, remote, and all have the 10 gig internet. And they would all be just 30-45 minutes from Cookeville for Sam's Club and other heavy-duty shopping, or the children's museum and theater if your kids are into that. You'll have no problems finding 4-H clubs, horse trails, etc.

[CrosbyStills]

Originally Posted by JMT

Not sure why you thought Cookeville was more of a retirement place. It's a college town with one of the youngest populations in the state, and it's also a very family friendly place with things like excellent schools...

I'm certain JMT is quite right in most of his positive accolades for Cookeville. It was probably perceived as "more of a retirement place" because of its proximity to Crossville and the pervasive marketing skills of Fairfield Glade, a prominent retirement community.

It's not a college town on par with Knoxville with UT or a major SEC school, but it does have a college. East Tennessee Tech, IIRC.

"Excellent schools" are going to be largely subjective based on where you are coming from. If you mean compared to much of Tennessee, then yes. If compared to Palo Alto or Irvine, or Connecticut, then probably no. It depends on how you and your family define excellence in primary and secondary education.

Caveat emptor, do your due diligence regardless of where you end up, there will (almost) always be positives and negatives, and boxes you want checked that go unchecked.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by CrosbyStills

I'm certain JMT is quite right in most of his positive accolades for Cookeville. It was probably perceived as "more of a retirement place" because of its proximity to Crossville and the pervasive marketing skills of Fairfield Glade, a prominent retirement community.

It's not a college town on par with Knoxville with UT or a major SEC school, but it does have a college. East Tennessee Tech, IIRC.

"Excellent schools" are going to be largely subjective based on where you are coming from. If you mean compared to much of Tennessee, then yes. If compared to Palo Alto or Irvine, or Connecticut, then probably no. It depends on how you and your family define excellence in primary and secondary education.

Caveat emptor, do your due diligence regardless of where you end up, there will (almost) always be positives and negatives, and boxes you want checked that go unchecked.

Cookeville is home to Tennessee Technological University (not "East Tennessee Tech"), the state's flagship tech college and is, fortunately, nothing like an SEC party school. It also has a Vol State community college branch. With a population of 35k and 12k students Cookeville has a higher concentration of college students than does Knoxville. In addition, Cookeville is a younger city, median population of 29.5 vs. 32.7 for Knoxville. Johnson City is 35.6, Jonesborough is 44.9, Woodbury is 40.2, McMinnville is 39.3.

The OP is moving from central Florida, not Palo Alto or Connecticut. The schools in Cookeville and Johnson City/Jonesborough (other areas the OP is looking at) will be just fine, if not better. Woodbury and McMinnville, on the other hand, have lousy schools. Knoxville has both. The OP will not, however, be able to find 30 acres for anything approaching $800k in Knoxville.